Electric actuating mechanism for ice-cream freezers



B. A. BENSON Dec. 11, 1934.

ELECTRIC ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR ICE CREAM FREEZERS Filed Sept. 8, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet \1 Dec. 11, 1934.

B. A. BENSON 1,983,653

ELECTRIC ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR ICE CREAM FREEZERS Filed Sept. 8, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2- \."""'ulllllt i'lilllflllllllllllllllil Iqvcn l'nr."

Dec; 1934- B. A. BENSON 1,983,653

ELECTRIC AGTUATING MECHANISM FOR ICE'CREAM FREEZERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 8, 1933 Patented Dec. 11, 1934 Eu STATES PATENT OFFICE ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR- ICE-CREAM FREEZERS Bernhart A. Benson,

Chicago, 111., assignor to (Chicago Electric Manufacturing 60., Chicago, lllll., a corporation of minois My invention relates to an electrically operated unit, adapted to be attached to an appliance having a rotating shaft, for rotating this shaft at a lower speed than that of the motor of the unit.

Generally speaking, the objects of my inventions are those of providing an inexpensive and rugged appliance-operating device which can be expeditiously manufactured, which will efiectively guard the hands of a user against contact with the speed-reducing gearing of the unit, which can readily be lubricated, and which will efiectively cool the motor of the device. Furthermore, my invention aims to provide a construction of such an appliance-operating device which will permit the desired rigidity and durability to be obtained with the use of relatively light punchings for most of the stationary metal parts.

In one of its immediate commercial aspects, my invention more particularly aims to provide an electric actuating device adapted to be used in connection with a tub type ice-cream freezer for rotating the usually upright cream container. In this aspect, my invention aims to provide an actuating device of the above described characteristics which can instantly be substituted for the usual tub-mouth-spanning bridge of such a freezer and the usual hand-crank, which will automatically guard against having ice chips in the tub reach the gears or other mechanism parts of the actuating unit, and which will efiect a forced cooling of the motor without drawing moist air out of the tub so as to reduce the efficiency of the freezer.

Still further and also more detailed objects of my invention will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an ice-creamfreezer actuating device embodying my invention,

41G including also a fragment of the mouth portion of a freezer tub by which this unit is detachably supported.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the tub-engaging supporting member of the same unit.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the motor-supporting platform. drawn on a somewhat smaller scale than Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken, at right angles to that of Fig. 4, along the line 55 of Figs. 1 and 4, drawn on the same scale as Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section taken along the 55 line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the correspondingly number line in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary end elevation, taken from the left-hand side of Fig. i and with the illustrated portion of the motor casing in diamet- 5 ric section.

Fig. 9 is a plan-spction taken along the line 9-9 of Fig. i.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the line 10-40 of Fig. 4 through the lower portion of my mechanism and the upper portion of the tub, drawn on a smaller scale than the other figures.

In the drawings, the electric motor of my appliance-operating unit includes an upright motor shaft 1 (Fig. 1) fastened to and extending both upwardly and downwardly beyond the armature or rotor 2 of the motor. This shaft is journaled in two bearings 3 mounted respectively on upper and lower bridges e and 5, which bridges are conjointly fastened by bolts '71 respectively to the upper and lower faces of the stator 6 of the motor. To support this motor upon the mouth end of the usual wooden tub 8 of a household type of ice-cream freezer, I seat the peripherally cy- 25 lindrical stator 6 of the motor on the feet 11 of legs 10 which extend upwardly from a generally disk-like metal platform 9, shown separately in Fig. 3, which platform has the major portion of its periphery corresponding to that of the 30 stator core. Then I fasten the said feet to the stator by bolts 12 (Figs. 4 and 8). The platform 9 in turn is supported by a plurality of spaced riser posts P from the main and horizontal portion 13 of a tub-mouth-spanning bridge, which 35 is a sheet metal punching formed as in Fig. 2. This bridge has at each end two spaced fingers 17 which extend upwardly and are continued by outwardly extending feet 16, the outward faces of the riser portions 17 of one pair of fingers being spaced from those of the other pair by a distance slightly less than the mouth diameter of the tub, so that these riser portions will center the bridge on the tub. Projecting between each pair of the said riser fingers 1'1 in extension of the main bridge portion 13 is a guide finger 14 fitting loosely into one of the usual two diametrically opposite notches 15 (Fig. 4) in the mouth end of the tub, the height of each of the said riser portions 17 being sufiiciently less than the depth of a notch 15 so that each guide finger 14 will clear the bottom of the notch through which it extends (as in Fig. 4). This leaves the two pairs of fingers 16 alone to support the bridge on the tub, while the engagement of the guide fingers with the walls of the notch will prevent the bridge from rotating about the axis of the tub.

In addition to having perforations a, b. c and d (Fig. 2) through which the lower ends of the four posts project (each projecting post-end be-' ing thereafter expanded to clinch the bridge plate 13 to the post). this main bridge plate also has a perforation 20 for journaling the hub 21 (Fig. 7) of a driven gear member, which hub has a downwardly open rectangular recess adapted to flt on the usual square-sectioned hub 23 (Fig. 10) of the cream container 0 of such a household type of ice cream freezer.

This hub 21 is fastened at its upper end to a driven gear having an axial bore through which the flattened upper end portion 24 of the stem of the upright dasher (or stationary member) of the freezer extends. To prevent this dasher from rotating, and to house the said gear as well as the lower part of a pinion 33 meshing with that gear, I provide a gear cover 26 which is seated on the main bridge plate 13, this gear casing having outwardly directed basal flanges 27, each of which flanges is fastened to the said bridge plate by a rivet 28 extending through a rivet bore 283 (Fig. 2) in that plate.

The top of this gear cover has a circular bore 28, in which a riser hub 25 on the main gear 22 is also journaled, thereby cooperating with the journaling of the said hub 21 in the bore 20 of the bridge plate to afford two bearings for the unitary three-piece member consisting of the parts 21, 22 and 25 in Fig. '7. Fastened to the top of the gear casing and arching over the upper journaling bore 28 is a strap provided with a slot 30 through which the flattened upper end portion 24 of the dasher of the freezer extends slidably as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 7.

The lower end of the motor shaft 1 extends freely through a perforation 17 (Fig. 3) in the motor-supporting platform 9, and a driving pinion 18 (Fig. 4) of smaller diameter than this perforation 17 is fastened to the motor shaft and disposed below this platform. Interposed between the driving pinion 18 and the driven gear 22 is a speed-reducing gear train which (for the herein described purpose) may include only two gear members each of which consists of a gear and a pinion fastened to the gear.

In the drawings, one of these gear members consists of a first gear 30 meshing with the pinion 18 on the motor shaft and fastened to a pinion 31 coaxial with the said gear. This unitary assembly of the gear 30 and the pinion 31 is journaled on an upright and stationary stub shaft S which is fastened to and suspended from the motor-supporting platform 9 by being clinched through the perforation 50 in Fig. 3, and this stub shaft has an enlarged lower head 35 supporting the aforesaid gear and pinion unit.

The second of the two gear and pinion units consists of a gear 32 meshing with the aforesaid pinion 31 and fastened to a taller pinion 33 which is below the gear 32 and meshes with the main gear 22. Since this unit rotates at lower speed and under greater torque than the previously described one, I preferably fasten both the gear 32 and pinion 31 to an upright gear shaft 34, which shaft has its lower end journaled in a bore 6 in the bridge plate 13 and its upper end journaled in a correspondingly positioned bore f in the motor supporting plate, thereby affording two widely spaced bearings for the rotatable gear shaft 34.

I also make the gear cover 26 of such a' size that it freely houses the main gear 22 as well as the lower portion of the tall pinion 33, which latter pinion extends freely through an opening 26A (Fig. 7) in the top of that casing and seats at its lower end on the bridge plate 13. Then I also provide this gear cover 26 with a perforation 27 (Fig. 6) through which the gear casing which is thus formed jointly by the gear cover and the part of the plate 13 below this cover can be filled with grease to insure an adequate lubrication of the two gear elements housed bythis casing.

In assembling the above described elements, the hub-like part 21 of the three-part member, which also includes the main gear 22, can he slipped downward through the journaling bore 20 for it in the bridge plate. Then the gear cover 25, with the strap 29 already riveted to it, is slipped over the hub 25 of the same member, the two flanges 27 on the gear cover are riveted to the bridge plate 13, and the twin gear member which includes the gear elements 32 and 33 has the lower portion of its tall pinion 33 inserted through the top of the gear casing to socket the lower end of the shaft 34 in the bore for it as shown in Fig. 7.

For a separate sub-assembly, the upermost gear 30 is fastened to the second pinion 31, and the shaft S is slid through both of the just named ear elements. This shaft is next staked at its upper end through the perforation 50 to the platform 9, and all four of the posts P are secured at their upper ends to this platform. Then the lower ends of the four posts are slid through the corresponding openings (11, b, c and d in Fig. 2) in the bridge plate and staked over,.and a fastening of the platform ears 11 to the stator 6 of the motor by the bolts completes the assembly, as the size of the central perforation 17 in the platform 9 permits the pinion 18 on the motor shaft to he slipped through this perforation before these ears to the stator by bolts 12, each of which bolts has an elongated nut 13 as shown in Fig. 5.

The posts P desirably are positioned, as shown for example in Fig. 9, so that they are at the upright corner edges of a four-sided figure which freely straddles the gear elements outside the gear casing, thereby not only forming widely spaced supports for the platform 9 and the motor mounted on this platform, but also serving to a considerable extent as guards to prevent the hands of the user of my device from contacting with the teeth of the gears.

To prevent strains tending to twist the bridge plate 13, I preferably employ an even number of riser posts P, four being ordinarily suflicient, and dispose these symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis A of this plate, as shown in Fig.

By doing this and by also forming the gear cover 26 so that the lower edges of its sides seat on the bridge plate 13, I also enable this cover to stiffen the said plate, and this stiffening is further enhanced by the hereafter described depending side flanges 13.

However, I do not depend merely on the posts P for guarding the user against contact with the gear teeth, but also arrange the lower part of the casing of the motor so as to serve the additional purposes of housing the upper portion of the gear train and of cooperating with the upper casing portion for effectively restricting'and guiding the ow of air drawn through the motor by a fan Sit 1,9ss,oos

the motor shaft I above 6 and the upper bearingprojecting from its upright free edges, as shown in Fig. i, the main portion 38 of this lower casing part being of such a height as to reach from near the upper end of the stator to a level between that of the platform 9 and the supporting cars 16 on the bridge plate 13. When bolts 40 extending through the casing ears 39 (as shown in Fig. 6) are tightened, the generally cylindrical main portion 38 is clamped both to the stator core 6 and to the periphery of the platform 9 (which corresponds in diameter to this stator core), thereby housing the four upper gear elements and also cooperating with the riser legs 10 on the platform 9 for holding the stator core rigid with respect to this platform.

Then I provide a cap-like upper casing part 47 which has its lower end portion at enlarged as shown in Fig. i, so as to telescope over the extreme upper portion of the stator core and to afford an annular shoulder i7A seating on the upper face of that core. This upper casing is fastened to the stator core by screws i i (Fig. 1) which extend'through the top of that part and are threaded into the nuts 13 of the bolts 12 (Figs. 1 and 8) which fasten the ears ll of the platform to the stator core. In addition, I provide the top of the upper casing part of air-outlet perforations 45 (Fig. l) and provide the incomplete cylindrical portion 38 of the lower casing part'with air inlet perforations 43 disposed at an elevation between the top of the platform 9 and the bottom of the stator core.

When the fan 42,.which has its blades formed for drawing air upwardly, is rotated, air is drawn upwardly and blown out through the top perforations 45 in the upper casing part. But, since the platform 9 extends across almost the entire area of the lower casing part, the air is drawn in almost entirely through the lateral apertures 43, instead of being drawn past the gear train and the supporting bridge 13. Consequently, the air drawn through the motor-namely through the usual clearance space between the rotor and the pole-pieces of the stator core, and through the openings 6A (Fig. 6) in this core--is substantially dry air, so that I do not force moistened air past the motor to corrode its parts, and also do not reduce thefreezing efficiency of the ice in the tub by a forced circulation of air close to the In practice, both the height of the posts P and the vertical spacing between the supporting bridge plate 13 and the lower edge of the casing may be varied, as these dimensions need not be relatively as large as they are shown (for the sake of clearness) in the drawings. However, I preferably make the said spacing sufficient to permit the spout of an oil-can to reach all of the gear elements which are between the platform 9 and the bridge plate 13. To prevent ice chips within the tub from being forced over this bridge plate during the operation of the freezer, I desirably provide that plate with guard flanges 13A depending from its opposite side edges. Each of these flanges has a finger 13B extending in the direction of rotation of the freezer and toward the longitudinal axis of the plate 13, as shown in Fig. 2 for my device when used with a freezer in which the cream container is rotated in the direction of the arrow.

. These depending flanges 13A also stiffen the bridge plate 13 against being flexed downward by the weight of the motor, and the previously described effect of the gear cover augments this effect. In addition, I preferably arrange my device so that the axes of all of the gear elements except the driven gear 22 (which is normally coaxial with the freezer tub and hence at the midlength of the bridge plate 13) are between this bridge center and one end of the bridge, and I extend the gear cover 26 farther toward that end of the bridge than toward the opposite end.

Furthermore, I preferably construct my mechanism so that all three of the upright shafts S, 1 and 34, as well as the driven gear 22 have their axes in the commonmedial plane A (Fig. 9) of the bridge plate, and also so dispose the posts P symmetrically with respect to that plane, thereby avoiding any strains tending to twist the bridge plate transversely.

By doing this, and by also disposing all of the platform-supporting posts between the first named end of the bridge and the center of the bridge (as in Fig. 9) so that the connection of these posts to the platform 9 enhances the stiffening of that half length of the bridge, I can readily employ a light gauge of metal for the bridge without having the weight of the motor flex the bridge and without encountering vibration when my device is in use.

However, while I have heretofore described my invention in connection with an embodiment including many and arrangement, I do not wish to be limited in these respects, since many changes could obviously be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims.

Moreover, it will be obvious that the general rigidity of my device will permit it to be employed for use in which the shaft driven by it is not upright, and for purposes other than actuating an ice-cream freezer, since the member heretofore designated as a bridge may readily be modified for connecting it to the driven appliance by means other than the finger and ear arrangement shown in the drawings. Indeed, the part here termed a bridge is, broadly speaking, serves a plurality of purposes in addition to func: tioning as a convenient supporting member for the remainder of my device, such as affording bearings for certain rotatable elements. Hence it is to be understood that the terms bridge and supporting member are used in the appended claims in correspondingly broad meanings.

I claim as my invention:

1. A device for actuating an appliance having a rotatable appliance-shaft, comprising: a generally flat and horizontal supporting member; means fast on the supporting member and adapted to interlock against rotation with a stationary part of the appliance; a driven gear journaled in the supporting member and slidably engageable with the said appliance-shaft; a platform extending parallel to the supporting member; a motor including a stator core fastened to the platform and including a rotor having its shaft extending through the platform; a driving pinion fast on the rotor shaft between the platform and the supporting member; spacer means rigidly spacing upwardly the platform from the supporting member; a speed-reducing gear train disposed between the platform and the supportdesirable details of construction a member which I rigid with respect to the ing member and operatively connecting the driving pinion with the said driven gear; and an inverted box-like gear cover fastened to the supporting member and spaced downwardly from the said platform and having the lower edges of its box sides seated on the supporting member, whereby the gear casing stiflens the supporting member against being flexed downwardly by the weight of the said motor and gear train.

2. A device for actuating an appliance having a rotatable appliance-shaft, comprising: a generally fiat and horizontal supporting member; means fast on the supporting member and adapted to interlock against rotation with a stationary part of the appliance; a driven gear journaled in the supporting member and slidably engageable with the said appliance-shaft; a platform extending parallel to the supporting member; a motor including a stator core fastened to the platform and including a rotor having its shaft extending through the platform; a driving pinion fast on the rotor shaft between the platform and the supporting member; spacer means rigidly spacing upwardly the platform from the supporting member; a speed-reducing gear train disposed between the platform and the supporting member and operatively connecting the driving pinion with the said driven gear; including legs platform, the said legs having feet engaging one end of the stator of the motor; a motor housing including a cap-like portion engaging the opposite end of the stator; a plurality of screws extending through the said feet and the stator; nuts threaded on the free ends of the said screws for clamping the stator against the said feet, and other screws extending through the said motor-housing portion and threaded respectively into the said nuts.

3. An appliance-actuating mechanism as per claim 1, in which the platform has its main portion spaced downwardly from the stator core of the motor, and in which the said main portion corresponds in its peripheral contour to that of the stator core; and in which the motor includes a casing portion clamped conjointly around the said main portion of the platform and around the stator core.

4. An appliance actuating mechanism asper claim 1, including a motor-housing member clamped both to the periphery of the platform and to the periphery of the stator of the electric motor, the said motor housing member being provided with lateral air inlet openings disposed at an elevation between that of the top of the platform and the stator of the electric motor; and a fan fast on the motor shaft above the stationary motor shaft for drawing air through the said air inlets and upwardly through the motor.

5. An appliance actuating mechanism as per claim 1, including a motor-housing member clamped to the periphery of the platform and to the periphery of the stator of the electric motor, the said motor-housing member being provided with lateral air inlet openings disposed at an elevation between that of the top of the platform and the stationary portion of the electric motor; a fan fast on the motor shaft above the said stator for drawing air through the said air inlets and upwardly through the stator; and a cap-like second motor-housing member secured to the said stator and having its top freely overhanging the said fan and provided with air-outlet apertures; the first named motor-housing member extending downward beyond the said platform to house a portion of the said gear train.

6. In an ice-cream freezer of the type in which a cream container rotates about a vertical axis within a tub, a supporting member supported by the tub and interlocked with the latter against rotation about the said axis; the said supporting member having a generally flat and paralleledged horizontal portion spaced upwardly from the top of the said container and having two flanges depending respectively from opposite edges of the said'portion, each flange having a relatively narrower finger projecting therefrom and sloping toward the longitudinal center line of the said portion so that the tip of the finger underhangs the said portion, the said flanges and fingers being symmetrically disposed with respect to the axis of rotation of the cream container, and the two fingers extending in the same direction rotationally about the said axis.

7. An electric actuating device for use with an ice-cream freezer of the type in which an upright cream container rotates within a tub while a flat ended dasher stem coaxial with the container remains stationary, comprising: a supporting member detachably seated upon and spanning the mouth of the tub and having portions of the said member engaging the tub to prevent rotation of the said member about the axis of the container; an upright driven gear journaled in and overlying the supporting member, the said gear being coaxial with and slidably interlocked with the cream container, and the said gear having an axial bore through which the dasher stem extends upwardly; an electric motor supported by and spaced upwardly from the supporting member and operatively connected to the said driven gear; a cap-like gear casing seated on and rigidly fastened to the supporting member and housing the said driven gear,'the top of the said gear casing having a perforation ing the said perforation and having a slot through upright cream container disposed centrally there-' in, a dasher disposed in the container having a dasher-stem projecting above the container, a member diametrically spanning the mouth respect to the dasher; the bridge member including a central and flat horizontal portion freely spaced upwardly from the container, and also including two upright fingers underhanging the said portion of the bridge member and sloping toward the longitudinal center line of the said main portion so that the tip of the finger underhangs the said main portion, the said fingers being symmetrically disposed with respect to the axis of the container, and the fingers extending in the same direction rotationally of the said axis.

9. A device for actuating an appliance having a rotatable appliance-shaft, comprising: a generally fiat and horizontal supporting member; means fast on the supporting member and adapted to interlock against rotation with a stationary part of the appliance; a driven gear joumaled in the supporting member and slidably engageable with the said appliance-shaft; a platform extending parallel to and above the supporting member; a motor including a stator core disposed above and fast with respect to the platform, and also including a rotor having its shaft extending through the platform, the stator and the platform having coaxial peripheral surfaces; fastening means for securing the stator to the platform, and a stator housing including a tubular part extending peripherally around and clamped to the major peripheral portions of both the stator and the platform, so as to cooperate with the said fastening means in holding the stator rigid with respect to the said platform.

10'. A device for actuating an agitating appliance in which an upright rotatable member is housed by an upright tub, comprising a generally horizontal supporting member extending across the mouth of the tub and interlocked with the tub to prevent rotation of the supporting member about the axis of the said rotatable member; a motor operatively connected to the said rotatable member and including a peripherally cylindrical upright stator core supported by the supporting member and. spaced upwardly from the supporting member; a motor housing including a tubular part clamped to the periphery of the stator core and extending downward beyond the said core, the said tubular part having lateral air inlets disposed at an elevation between that of the supporting member and the bottom of the stator core; and a fan rotated by the motor and disposed above the said stator core for drawing air through the said air inlets and upwardly through the motor. 7

BERNHART A. BENSON. 

